With 4.2 patent applications per 1,000 students, Thuringia ranks second nationwide, behind Saxony, where the figure is 5.4. Across Germany, the average is 2 patent applications per 1,000 students. Ilmenau University of Technology also made a significant leap in the ranking of individual universities: With 18 applications, it moved up to second place. Previously, around 12 patents had come from this Thuringian college town. Hannover Medical School follows with 13 applications.
Nearly one in three university patents is created in cooperation with partners, compared with only around one in twenty among other patent applicants in Germany. Large German corporations are particularly frequent participants, contributing to more than one-third of all university collaborations. “People who file a patent today often bring a new product to market tomorrow. That makes universities important idea factories for companies,” says Oliver Koppel, an expert at the German Economic Institute (IW).
